The Mutillidae are a family of more than 7,000 species of wasps whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their resemblance to an ant, and their dense pile of hair, which most often is bright scarlet or orange, but may also be black, white, silver, or gold. Their bright colors serve as aposematic signals. They are known for their extremely painful stings,, and has resulted in the common name "cow killer" or "cow ant" being applied to the species Dasymutilla occidentalis. However, mutillids are not aggressive and sting only in defense. In addition, the actual toxicity of their venom is much lower than that of honey bees or harvester ants. Unlike true ants, they are solitary, and lack complex social systems.
A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp (Pompilidae) that preys on tarantulas. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis. They are one of the largest parasitoid wasps, using their sting to paralyze their prey before dragging it to a brood nest as living food; a single egg is laid on the prey, hatching to a larva which eats the still-living host. They are found on all continents other than Europe and Antarctica.
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps, spider-hunting wasps, or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. Nearly all species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are kleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
The Schmidt sting pain index is a pain scale rating the relative pain caused by different hymenopteran stings. It is mainly the work of Justin O. Schmidt, a former entomologist at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Arizona. Schmidt published a number of works on the subject, and claimed to have been stung by the majority of stinging Hymenoptera.
The emerald cockroach wasp or jewel wasp is a solitary wasp of the family Ampulicidae. It is known for its unusual reproductive behavior, which involves stinging a cockroach and using it as a host for its larvae. It thus belongs to the entomophagous parasites.
Pepsis is a genus of spider wasps belonging to the family Pompilidae. Species within this genus are also called tarantula hawks, as they usually hunt tarantulas, similarly to many species in the genus Hemipepsis. These wasps are restricted to the Americas, with the related genus Hemipepsis occurring in both Old and New Worlds.
Philanthus gibbosus, the hump-backed beewolf, is a species of bee-hunting wasp and is the most common and widespread member of the genus in North America. P. gibbosus is of the order Hymenoptera and the genus Philanthus. It is native to the Midwestern United States and the western Appalachians. P. gibbosus are often observed to visit flowers and other plants in search of insect prey to feed their young. The prey that P. gibbosus catches is then coated in a layer of pollen and fed to the young wasps.
Dasymutilla is a wasp genus belonging to the family Mutillidae. Their larvae are external parasites to various types of ground-nesting Hymenoptera. Members of this genus are highly variable in sting intensity, ranging from a 1 (D. thetis) to a 3 in the Schmidt sting pain index.
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.
The Aphonopelma hentzi, also known as Texas brown tarantula, Oklahoma brown tarantula, or Missouri tarantula, is one of the most common species of tarantula living in the Southern United States today. Texas brown tarantulas can grow to leg spans in excess of 10 cm (4 in), and weigh more than 85 g (3 oz) as adults. Their bodies are dark brown, though shades may vary between individual tarantulas. The colors are more distinct after a molt, as with many arthropods.
Episyron quinquenotatus, the white-trimmed black wasp, is a North American species of pompilid spider hunting wasp.
Sphictostethus nitidus, the golden hunter wasp or red spider wasp, is a species of pepsid spider wasp endemic to New Zealand.
Synoeca is a genus of eusocial paper wasps found in the tropical forests of the Americas. Commonly known as warrior wasps or drumming wasps, they are known for their aggressive behavior, a threat display consisting of multiple insects guarding a nest beating their wings in a synchronized fashion, and an extremely painful sting. The sting is barbed and if used often kills the wasp, which may be the reason why such a striking defensive display is used. This display escalates from drumming inside the nest to hundreds of wasps moving on to the envelope of the nest and continuing to drum. If this does not deter the threat only then do the wasps begin to sting.
Hemipepsis ustulata is a species of tarantula hawk wasp native to the Southwestern United States. Tarantula hawks are a large, conspicuous family of long-legged wasps that prey on tarantulas. They use their long legs to grapple with their prey before paralyzing them with a powerful sting. Their stings are ranked as some of the most painful in the insect world according to the Schmidt sting pain index. They are solitary, displaying lekking territorial behavior in their mating rituals.
Pepsis albocincta is a species of spider wasps belonging to the family Pompilidae.
Tachypompilus analis, the red-tailed spider wasp is a species of spider wasp found in most of tropical and subtropical Asia, north to Japan. These spider wasps often hunt huntsman spiders.
Poecilopompilus algidus is a species of spider wasp which is widespread in the Americas.
Pepsis menechma, the elegant tarantula hawk, is a species of spider wasp in the family Pompilidae, widely distributed in North America and Central America. It has numerous very different color forms over its range, and has been historically classified as several species.
Pepsis thisbe, a "tarantula hawk", is a species of spider wasp in the family Pompilidae. Females are 32-44 mm long with a dark blue body and orange wings.
Pepsis mildei, commonly known as Milde's tarantula-hawk wasp in English, is a species of predatory spider wasp native to the Western Hemisphere. These wasps capture live tarantulas to feed to their larva; the adults graze on flowers. Tarantula hawks generally have no meaningful predators. The wing color is black and/or orange, with rare leucistic wing coloration known in males. The wings of P. mildei are duller overall than those of Pepsis grossa or Pepsis cinnabarina. Per Edward Essig, Milde's tarantula-hawk wasp usually measures 20–30 millimeters in length and is a metallic blue-black overall, with "the antennæ reddish, dusky at extreme base in the male and the basal third dusky in the female; the wings fiery red with the bases and apices dusky".
